UPGRADE 2026

Massimiliano De Florio is an Italian artist whose practice explores paper as a sculptural, architectural and conceptual material. His works are built through precision, patience and structural intelligence, transforming paper into complex three-dimensional forms.

His research is rooted in a dialogue between manual craftsmanship and technical culture. Through geometric constructions, lowpoly structures and carefully assembled surfaces, De Florio creates works that move between sculpture, design, material experimentation and contemporary visual research.

For NNC Gallery London, his practice represents a significant example of how paper can move beyond its traditional role as a support and become an active space of construction, tension and transformation. In his work, fragility and strength coexist: paper becomes volume, architecture, organism and visual thought.

Massimiliano De Florio has been part of NNC Collective 20 and has been followed by NNC Gallery London since 2020, within our long-term curatorial observation of emerging and mid-career artists. Over the years, his artistic path has continued to evolve, confirming the coherence and recognisability of his research.

Recent updates include a new body of works, a new website and an important professional development: the artist has informed us that he is among the 20 artists selected by a prestigious curatorial group for an upcoming Paper Biennale project in Lucca, scheduled for 2027.

For collectors, curators, galleries and art professionals interested in contemporary paper art, material research and the relationship between art, structure and spatial construction, Massimiliano De Florio is an artist worth following.

Curatorial note

NNC Gallery London follows artists over time, observing the development of their practice beyond a single application, exhibition or image. Massimiliano De Florio’s trajectory reflects the importance of this long-term approach: an artist’s value is often revealed through continuity, evolution and the ability to deepen a language year after year.

ARTIST STATEMENT

2020

I am an engineer working on innovative projects in the aerospace sector. Innovative materials,  new technologies, several future scenarios all those aspects influenced my creative process. That's  why my artworks are a fusion between art and engineering. My background studies, focused on computer aided manufacturing and prototyping, together with  the experience in the aerospace industry, have deeply influenced my style and my continuous  search for complex shapes. I always use simple solids such as pyramids or parallelepipeds that deform and bend due to  invisible forces creating a play of light and shadow. Gravity and attraction forces are something I deal with every day in my work and are the main forces that are the basis of my geometries.

2020 – Galleria Maiocchi15 Milano 2018 – Artist contributor for Silhouette America Inc.